Cruisin' for Brusin'

Ahoy Mateys!

Last week, our family of 3+2+2 went for our first cruise vacation. It was a 3 day/night trip on a Singapore-Penang-KL-Singapore route on board Royal Caribbean Cruise's Legend of the Seas.

The last time I was on one of these cruise ships was back in 1985 when I accompanied my folks on a Scandinavian holiday. We left London for Denmark via ship before travelling on a combination of a tour bus road trip and ship to Norway and Sweden, and then back to London. En route back to London, the English Channel was throwing up enormous waves and I was rocked from one side of the ship to the other. At 11, I was rather independent and my folks often left me to own my devices so I roamed the ship on my own (I even shared a cabin with a 74-year-old English lady who was travelling alone). I even recalled I'd gone to watch Ghostbusters and when Dad came to pick me up from the ship's theatre he found me sitting on the stairs as I was giddy from the wobbling and couldn't stand or walk straight without my legs giving way.

You could say that I don't have very fond memories of my last sea adventure.

My parents and I were travelling in the North Sea where the waters are much choppier than the relatively calmer seas within the South East Asian region. Then again, I could be wrong since I'm not much of a Geography student.

Anyway, this trip was a rather last minute decision and the hub was pretty keen on it since he's never been on a cruise holiday before. After weighing the pros and cons of jetting off to another country by air (the cost of 7 tickets is a hefty fee) and considering the activities we're limited to doing as a family - the elderly can't walk far while the kids are too happy scampering all over the place and if the 3 girls dart off in separate directions, the hub and I would be outrun - we decided on a cruise so that my in-laws could retire in the room if they were tired.

Of course, there was another draw: the *ker-ching* machines at the casino on the ship if FIL got bored on board. (Pun intended).

It turned out to be a pretty decent vacation though as usual, the hub and I didn't exactly relax because for some strange reason, kids always, and I mean ALWAYS seem to go on automatic "stress-mum-and-dad" overdrive whenever they're on a holiday. Parents of young children would understand *exactly* what I'm talking about.

It's like all 3 kids were on a super-duper sugar diet. As expected, there was lots of screaming, yelling, laughter, tears. And I haven't even begun to describe my hyperactive kiddos.

The girls eagerly waiting to board the ship

We were fortunate to get two cabins next to each other, especially since I made the booking almost 2 weeks before setting off and it was running on a 100% occupancy rate. They gave us Oceanview Staterooms (2556 & 2558) that were meant for wheel-chair bound travellers and this was great as the cabins were roomier and the toilets were bigger.

The 3 girls in their "woo-hoo-we're-on-holiday-let's mess-up-the-bed" mode

Xian shared a room with her grandparents while the younger girls bunked in with us. Every morning, a grumpy Xian would shuffle into our room to brush her teeth and change. (She wasn't happy that she'd to be separated from us but 5 to a cabin is a pretty tight squeeze).

Honestly, you can never go hungry on the ship. Almost every corner of the ship was a counter to get food. There seemed to be a never-ending buffet at the Windjammer Cafe and that was also where we encountered some really ugly Singaporeans who laid bare their disgusting attitudes.

On the first day we boarded, we could only get into our rooms after 2pm so most of us adjourned to Windjammer Cafe for lunch. By the time we made our way up to Deck 9, the only seats left were at the poolside outside the cafe which was where we sat. The hub, Xian and I had to stand in queue to enter the cafe to get food as the service staff were busy trying to replenish the dishes. The poor cafe crew had to prevent passengers from barging their way into the cafe and some were obviously trying to cut the queue by providing lame excuses. This was what the hub overheard:

Cafe Crew: Sorry sir, we're replenishing the food right now. Please give us a moment.
Rude Man: I'm only going inside to get sugar. Why can't I go in?
Cafe Crew: We have sugar outside at the drink station just behind me. You can get sugar there.
Rude Man: But I want to go in. The sugar inside tastes better!

Pardon me, but what kind of blistering idiot is this?!?! "The sugar inside tastes better?" WTF?!

And while I was standing in line with Xian, a young lady about 18/19 in tight black shorts pushed her way in front, elbowed Xian and growled at the cafe crew:

Rude Girl: Excuse me. I already got a place outside. Why must I queue?
Cafe Crew: I'm sorry Ma'am. There's no more food. Please give us some time to replenish the food.

Rude Girl (clucks her tongue impatiently): How long must I wait?!!
Cafe Crew: About 5 minutes, Ma'am.
Rude Girl: OK. You said 5 minutes right?
Cafe Crew: Yes Ma'am. About 5 minutes.
Rude Girl: I'll come back in exactly 5 minutes. (Read: I'm coming back in 5 minutes and I mean EXACTLY 5 minutes. I better be allowed in since you said 5 minutes. I'm holding you accountable to your words or you'll be sorry.)

The Rude Girl wheeled about, flicked her long hair, cursed under her breath as she stormed off in a rage. She brushed against Xian again but didn't apologise. That was when Xian and I exchanged looks and I could see Xian's puzzled face because she didn't understand what the fuss was about.

Really, it wasn't a long wait and I didn't see the need for imprudence or impatient because there's PLENTY of food! Needless to say, we didn't fancy having all our meals there so we chose to dine at the Romeo and Juliet Restaurant (which serves only breakfast and dinner) on Deck 4 whenever possible.

1st Night - Formal Dinner

Penang was our first stop and that's also where we had originally planned to visit before we joined the cruise. In fact, the only reason why we picked this route was because Penang was one of the port of calls. We decided not to join any of the tours to Penang arranged by the ship so made prior arrangements to hire a private passenger bus to take us around. When we berthed at Penang, we set out to visit several beautiful temples: Snake Temple (and yes, I held up a snake!), Kek Lok Si Temple, Wat Chaiyamangkalaram (Thai Buddhist Temple) andDhammikarama Burmese Temple and stopped along the way to enjoy some Penang Assam Laksa and Fried Hokkien Noodles. With only about 5 hours to spare, that was all we had time for before heading back to the ship. A real pity because there were a few more temples and other popular places like the Toy Museum we wanted to visit.

Great Snakes! It's alive!

Kek Lok Si Temple

Who's the real monkey?

Done with Assam Laksa?

Thai Buddhist Temple

Thai Buddhist Temple - Reclining Buddha

Burmese Buddhist Temple

Look who's pooped out?

The next day we reached Kuala Lumpur (KL) where we took the tour bus to visit KLCC and Petronas Twin Towers, Chinatown and Lot 10 Shopping Mall. Owing to overwhelming response from our fellow passengers who wanted to do shopping, our route was changed so we stopped for a quick photograph view of KLCC and proceeded to Lot 10. We probably spent 15 minutes in Lot 10 before deciding there wasn't much we could buy (too expensive) and walked opposite to Sungei Wang where bought school shoes, casual shoes and Chinese New Year clothes for the kids. That was just about it for KL.

A view of KLCC - Petronas Twin Towers

Back on board Legend of the Seas, we were treated to a surprise dinner performance by the waiters, chefs and service crew at the Romeo and Juliet Restaurant. We also enjoyed the final evening show at Deck 5's That's Entertainment lounge before heading back to the cabins. The kids stayed with the in-laws for a bit while the hub and I wandered around the ship as we'd never really got the chance to explore the place.

We chanced upon the midway screening of Twilight: Eclipse at the Anchors Aweigh Lounge and sat down to watch. After 15 minutes, the hub got bored and wanted to return to the cabin but I chose to stay on to finish the film - not that it was such an awesome movie, but it was the only time I was "free" of the kids and I could chill for a bit. By the time the screening ended, it was midnight and when I got back, the girls were asleep. (I think the hub was a little miffed as he'd wanted to take his father to the casino for the last night).

The girls with regular table waitress who's from Romania

Cruise Director Bobby and the performers

My final verdict? The Legend of the Seas is worth any sea adventurer's salt and I'd give it a 3.5 stars out of 5. Despite my initial misgivings about the trip, I quite enjoyed myself and my only regret was that I didn't the chance to try out the facilities or roam about freely on decks without having to worry about a kid running off or hiding in some corner. But the kids had fun and that's all that matters.

Having said that, travelling companions are crucial as they have the ability completely wipe out your enthusiasm even if you're on a 5 star cruise liner. I would love to make another trip with the ship, this time on a different route to different destinations. :)

A family photo of 5 of us